Monday, August 29, 2016

1) AJ Styles: I'd say my favorite match of the week was a toss up between the ones won by my first and second choice. I went with AJ Styles because of what his win meant. Styles has been great all year but his biggest moment so far came at SummerSlam when he defeated John Cena, cleanly, in a great match. To follow it up on Smackdown, Styles bragged and got into it with Dolph Ziggler. It led to a main event match where, if Ziggler won, he'd face Styles and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match at Backlash for the WWE Championship. Styles won an awesome match and got right in Dean's face, setting the stage for what should be a top notch PPV main event for Smackdown.2) TJ Perkins: The second round of the Cruiserweight Classic wrapped this week with possibly the best episode. They saved the best for last as TJ Perkins and Johnny Gargano had a great match that saw a bit of an upset. A lot of people figured Gargano would make it far since he's been heavily featured on NXT in recent months. Instead, TJ Perkins got the win with a knee bar. I loved the result because Perkins has a load of potential and honestly, probably should win since Kota Ibushi has yet to sign a deal. Make Perkins the cocky heel to lead the division on Raw. The dude is immensely talented and I'm sure we'll see it again when he faces Rich Swann in the quarterfinals. Anyway, as of right now, expect this match to find its way, along with Ziggler/Styles, into my big year end match rankings.

3) Bayley: It finally happened. After waiting for months and months and getting teased at Battleground, Bayley officially got called up to the main roster. With Sasha Banks on the shelf and the Raw women's divisions severely lacking, she showed up and looks to be in line as Charlotte's next challenger for the Women's Title. She challenged Charlotte but got Dana Brooke instead, winning a ho hum match. Bayley herself has said that she wants a slow build to the title, but considering we had to sit through a boring 309 day reign for Charlotte already, get the title on Bayley as soon as humanely possible.4) The Miz: Though he didn't wrestle on television this week, The Miz made more headlines than anyone. On WWE Network's "Talking Smack", the Miz interrupted Daniel Bryan and Renee Young to question why he wasn't on TV. Bryan was a dick and said he believes Miz wrestles like a coward and that he was more impressed with Apollo Crews than him at SummerSlam. Miz snapped and verbally ripped into Bryan about the fact that his style of wrestling makes it so he can do it for nearly ten years without injury. He mocked Bryan for promising to return for the fans and then never doing so, prompting Bryan to walk off set. Miz wrapped the promo by passionately putting over the Intercontinental Title. It was an emotional promo that left everyone talking and, if we can get more of this Miz, I'm all for it. Hell, outside of AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose, he'd be my third pick for WWE Champion on Tuesdays.5) American Alpha: Advanced in the Smackdown Tag Team Title Tournament with a win over Breezango in a really good match.